Unfaithful
by Gensomaden-Saiyuki
Summary: SasuSaku. Sometimes, when you're hoping for something impossible, you know that one day, you'll be unfaithful. You will never believe that what you hoped for will ever come true... And then it backfires on you. A bit dark in later chapters.
1. Clock Watching

**(Act 1 – Clock Watching)**

"_The time is so friggin' slow…"_ Sakura looked at the clock mounted on the wall in front of her. She was seated on a chair, slouching over at her desk as she lazily watched the hands of the clock tick.

She banged her head gently on the desk in front of her, _"This damn job makes me feel dizzy."_

Haruno Sakura has matured into a fine young woman and an exceptional and known medic. She was 23 years old… and she had been turning down her countless suitors. Yes, she was still single. For some reason, she didn't want to be engaged in a relationship, **yet**. She was slightly becoming a man-hater after her last encounter with **him** 8 years ago. The only men she won't hate are those who were close to her, but those strangers who claim that they wanted to live the rest of their lives with her… she hated them… for the very exact reason, nobody knows, not even she knows. It's just by instinct that she would hate them.

She has been wearing a white sleeveless shirt, covered by a jacket much like that of Tsunade's, the only difference is that the color of her jacket is red and instead of having the word 'gamble' on her back, she has the usual symbol for the Haruno family – the white circle. She was also wearing a pair of pants similar to Tsunade's and the pair of heels, similar to that of Shizune's and Tsunade's. She also had a medic nin's hat on her head. Her hair returned to its long state.

Sasuke has been missing for almost 10 years now. Team 7 was reunited, and then reformed almost 8 years ago. They were able to attain a new team leader named Yamato, to substitute Kakashi, and a replacement for Sasuke named Sai.

When the new Team 7 was in the Grass Country, they planned on dragging him back to Konoha. They encountered with Orochimaru, Kabuto and of course, Sasuke. But too bad, they were all lured into a trap so that these three could flee far away into the unknown.

And now, here they are. Naruto was going to be Rokudaime soon. His inauguration will be within this week. Kakashi will soon retire from his job as a jounin and he will be promoted as one of Naruto's advisors. Yamato was going to retire from the ANBU Headquarters as well, and he was going to be one of Naruto's advisors afterwards, too. And Sai? He is still an ANBU… and yes, he still calls Naruto dickless and Sakura ugly.

They still didn't give up on bringing Sasuke back to Konoha – all of them. Except… Well, except **her**. She lost all hopes on having Sasuke back to Konoha. Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto and Sai told her they'll bring him back this time for sure. Call her unfaithful, she didn't mind. She wouldn't hope for nothing to come back. Uchiha Sasuke coming back to Konoha was just plain nonsense, just another flight of the imagination for Haruno Sakura… TOO **IMPOSSIBLE**, she believed.

She didn't want to waste her efforts and go with them, as she believed they will return to Konoha wounded and unsuccessful. It's been a month since they left and they still haven't returned.

"_How's Naruto gonna be Hokage if he doesn't return to Konoha?"_ Sakura yawned as she listened to the tick-tock of the clock, _"I already told him… It was too useless."_

"Do you think your job sucks that much?" Ino walked towards the hospital desk.

"Visiting hours is over." Sakura pointed to the clock on the wall, "It's already 10:27 in the evening. If you would like to be informed, visiting hours is from 8:00 A.M. to 11:30 A.M, and then at 1:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. Sorry for the inconvenience, but you can return tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Wow, you sound so much like a pretty good answering machine. If you were one, I could've bought you and blocked off the calls in the flower shop!" Ino smiled, "Well, I'm just here to have a chat with you. Don't you feel so lonely being alone here in the reception desk?"

"The only thing I can do here is watch the stupid clock." Sakura rubbed the sleep off her eyes, "Now I know what it's like when seconds turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours, hours into days, and days into years."

Ino frowned at Sakura's remarks, "Then why didn't you just go with them instead of watching the time fly?"

The emerald-eyed medic sighed as she sat straight, "I'm sure they won't be able to convince his stubborn Uchiha butt to return to Konoha after almost 10 years. Ino, roughly 8 years ago, we tried to convince him and we all ended up injured, and we returned to Konoha empty-handed. What more 8 years after that? I could remember that event clearly. He had just been away from Konoha for 2 ½ years, and he **roughly** remembered us. If for 2 ½ years, he **almost** forgot about us already, what more 8 years after? It's just…" Sakura sighed and tapped her fingers on her desk, "It's just pointless… It's just stupid!"

"You do have a point." Ino sighed, "But even for the slightest possibility, won't you hope?"

"I'm tired of hoping." Sakura shrugged, "Hoping leads to nothing after all… Through the years, I hoped and nothing happened. It's not like my hopes can bring him back… We're already shedding our blood just for him to come back and still, nothing!"

Ino took a seat beside Sakura, "How's life as a great medic nin like the Hokage?"

"Sucks." Sakura rubbed her temples, "I can save people, now that's great. But waiting like this to save people, it really, **really**, sucks."

"Then why don't you go as a missionary?"

"Like Tsunade-sama would even allow me."

"Why not?"

"Konoha doesn't have that much medic nins." Sakura responded, "If I leave, that's gonna be hard."

"Just say you're becoming lazy." Ino chuckled, "Just like my stupid fiancé."

"At least I'm not gaining weight." Sakura smiled, "Even if my job sucks sometimes, I think everything's better this way."

"HURRY! GET MORE MEDIC NINS!" a shout from the outside boomed as the hospital doors flew open.

Shizune and Tsunade came running alongside the jounins carrying 5 people on stretchers. Around five medic nins tailed behind Shizune and Tsunade.

Sakura stood up and when she did… she saw the least person she expected… Her eyes narrowed and her whole body trembled as she saw the bloody body of…

"Sasuke…?" she muttered.

Ino just heard what her best friend said and stood up to see for herself. Even she was shocked.

"Sakura, hurry up! Get here!" Shizune called as the emergency team entered a room.

The next day…

Sakura sighed as she washed the blood off her arms and her hands. There were bloodstains on her shirt and jacket too. She looked at her weary face on the mirror in front of her. She splashed water on her face, so as to remove the splash and smear of a patient's blood on her face, mixed with her own sweat.

She was so exhausted. She helped in healing 5 critically injured people: Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamato, Sai and… Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke had been beaten and injured far more than those four. His condition was so bad that Tsunade and Sakura have to team up to get him healed.

Sakura splashed water on the mirror, hating the smell of blood on her… the smell of **his** blood. The fact that it was **his** blood that she just washed off and it was **his** blood that has stained her pristine white shirt.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…

Sakura looked at the wall, there was another clock there. She just sighed and she got out of the bathroom.

"You look beat." A nurse told Sakura who had been passing by, "Did you get enough sleep?"

Sakura shook her head, "I've been working."

The nurse noticed the blood on Sakura's clothes, "You better go home. You still have work later in the afternoon, right, Sakura-san?"

Sakura nodded, "Right."

And walking slowly due to exhaustion, she made her way back home.

After a quick bath, Sakura sat on her bed and stared at the clothes stained with **his** blood on the floor. She picked up the white shirt and looked at the blood. She winced at the thought.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…

The only noises that can be heard in her room were her faint breathing and the ticking of the wall clock. She stared at the clock, trying to bore a hole at it, which is seemingly impossible.

She sighed as she dropped her shirt on the floor and prepared to sleep. She stared at the ceiling and sighed yet again.

She thought he would never come back, and yet, her teammates proved her wrong. They brought him back this time. And the very evidence was his blood on her shirt. She felt disappointed with herself… why didn't she hope this time? If so, she would feel a little happier. But no, because she didn't believe he'll return to Konoha, and now that he did… his blood on her skin and on her shirt slapped her back to reality.

Why did she feel so bad?

She should feel great! She didn't hope for him to return, and now he's back! Unlike those times, she would hope day after day for him to return and he hadn't.

It was because she didn't believe in her teammate's nagging about bringing him back home, perhaps. **She** was the **only one** who didn't believe anymore. It was like a dream, far too impossible to happen. And now, the dream turned into a living nightmare, because it happened.

* * *

**--- FLASHBACK ---**

"Are you kidding me!" Sakura shouted at Naruto, "Naruto, grow up! It's been 8 years since we tried **that**! And we failed miserably! Back then, he was only away from us for 2 ½ years, now that he's been away from us for almost 10 years, what makes you think you can bring him back! 10 years Naruto, do you know how long it has been already!"

"Sakura-chan, c'mon, don't be so pessimistic! We can bring him back!" Naruto shyly grinned.

"Naruto, you will be inaugurated a month from now!" Sakura shook Naruto's shoulders, "You have to prepare! You're going to be Rokudaime-"

"And I won't take the title not unless I fulfill my one mission." Naruto interrupted and glared at Sakura seriously, "I made a promise to you right? I made a promise to you, when we were still genins, have you forgotten about that one?"

"Forget about the promise you left to me back then, Naruto!" Sakura's tears starts forming now, "I don't care anymore! He's already a traitor like his brother, so why not leave him alone! Naruto, forget about Sasuke! Think that he never exists; please think that we never knew him! Naruto!"

Yes, it has been quite a long time now since Sakura had removed the suffix _–kun_ in Sasuke's name.

"Sakura-chan, I promised to you that I'd bring Sasuke-teme back to Konoha." The blonde smiled at his teammate, "And unless I fulfill that promise, I won't be Hokage."

"Naruto, if you won't be Hokage, then who would be!" Sakura's tears rolled down her cheeks, "Your dream is to be a Hokage, right? This is it! A month from now, all those years of hardships, all those times of hard work, they will be all worth it! You're going to be Hokage because you're fit for the title! Listen to me!"

"Don't worry about me, Sakura-chan. I promise I'll fulfill my mission this time for sure. I'll bring with me Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou and Sai. Won't you go with us, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura stepped back, her bangs cascaded on her eyes, shadowing them. She shook her head, "You'll just fail to bring him back again."

"Have you given up already?" Naruto said, obviously disappointed at the woman in front of him.

"I have given up all hopes of his return long ago… and you know that!" Sakura faked a smile, "Why should I hope again when it's useless already? I'm sure; time has erased his memories of us."

"Then I'll make him remember us." Naruto reached out his hand to Sakura, "Come with us."

Sakura blinked when she saw Naruto's hand. She sighed and shook her head, "Stop being stubborn, Naruto. This is nonsense. Just stay here and don't go looking for that traitor. Everything's fine without him already."

Taking that as a 'no', Naruto withdrew his hand and sighed.

"I'll prove you wrong, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned, "I **can** bring back Sasuke-teme! And that's a Hokage's promise!"

**--- END OF FLASHBACK ---

* * *

**

"Good afternoon, Sakura-san." The nurse at the receiving desk bowed at the pink-haired medic nin.

"Good afternoon," Sakura smiled at the nurse, "how's everything?"

"Everything's fine, Sakura-san." The nurse replied, "Weren't you here this morning?"

"Yes, I was." Sakura signed a login paper, "But I'm still on an afternoon 'til midnight shift, so I still have to be on duty no matter what."

Sakura looked around the hospital and sighed, "How come there are a lot of people lately?"

"Err… Sakura-san, we're in a hospital, so it's natural that-"

"I know that!" Sakura chuckled a bit, "What I'm trying to say is… there are more people here today than the usual."

"They've been visiting the upcoming Rokudaime in his room." The nurse smiled, "He just woke up this noon."

"Did you feed him?"

"Uhm… there's still the glucose bag connected on his arm, so there's no need to feed him, right?" the nurse sweatdropped.

The nurse gave Sakura a clipboard, a stopwatch, a stethoscope, and a pen. Sakura took them and said, "I'll be doing my rounds now. Meanwhile, go to the Ichiraku stand and buy 4 bowls of extra large beef ramen."

The nurse's eyes widened while Sakura draped the stethoscope around her neck, "FOUR… BOWLS…?"

"Do you want me to double the number?" Sakura placed a hand on her hips, "Afterwards, give them to Naruto, so that he could eat. Remove the glucose bag and feed him real food regularly… I'll pay you later."

"B-But, Sakura-san!" the nurse tried to complain but too bad, Sakura had walked away already.

_TBC…_  
--- --- --- --- ---  
**While doing her duties, a memory slaps Sakura in the face. And every now and then, that particular memory torments her.**

_**Act 2: Hope Scars**_

"_**Sakura, what were you thinking! You almost killed him!"**_  
**-Tsunade

* * *

**

**_A/N:_ This multi-chaptered fic was created from a splitting idea from my fics _Haunted_ and _Homebound_. This was also the ideas that popped into mind after reading Chapter 308 and 309 of the manga. So pretty much, this is the merged results of the splitting ideas of _Haunted_ and _Homebound_.**

**Please tell me what you think through your reviews!**

**Thank you!**

**+Releina Artemis+**


	2. Hope Scars

**(Act 2 – Hope Scars)**

Sakura twirled her finger with her hair as she walked around the hallways of the hospital, reading the assignments on her clipboard.

First stop – checkup on Kakashi.

Sakura slid open the door to Kakashi's room.

"Hey there Sakura!" Kakashi greeted, seated up already.

Sakura sighed, "Kakashi-sensei, you're up already? Too bad, because if you were still asleep, I could see you without your mask! When I operated you last night, we didn't take your mask off. When the other medics cleaned you up, as far as I know, they took off your mask!"

Kakashi laughed under his mask, "So you operated on me? Gee, I sure did wish you didn't do anything-"

"Kakashi-sensei, you seriously have to stop reading that perverted book of yours. I didn't do anything perverted on you because I'm not that type of person." Sakura had an eye twitching already, as she immediately cut off Kakashi from saying she did something perverted, which in truth, she did not.

The silver-haired jounin snickered at the jade-eyed medic as she walked nearer to him.

"Okay, I'm going to do a checkup on you, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said as she pressed her two fingers near his throat, "Right now, I'm going to check on your heartbeat rate, so just breathe deep and relax."

Kakashi did as he was told and Sakura set the stopwatch to 60 seconds and started counting the jounin's heartbeat.

When she was done, she wore the stethoscope and said, "And now I'm going to listen to your heartbeats."

"You might fall in love with me just by listening to my heart!" Kakashi joked.

Sakura's eyes twitched yet again, "With you? HELL NO!"

Sakura placed the other end of the stethoscope on Kakashi's chest and instructed, "Breathe in, breathe out… Breathe in, breathe out…"

She removed the stethoscope and sighed, "You're doing well."

She wrote down her observations on her clipboard, "You will be released by tomorrow or the day after. It depends if your wounds are good already, then you'll leave tomorrow. If we think you still need to rest here, then maybe you'll be released the day after tomorrow. I'll be leaving now. I still have more to do."

Sakura turned on her heel but Kakashi said, "Wait, Sakura."

"Yes?" Sakura replied, without turning her head, "Do you need anything, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looked weary and he stared at Sakura's back. He diverted his gaze from her and sighed, "None. You may leave now. Thanks for everything."

"No problem, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura replied and left the room.

While she was walking in the hallways, a sudden memory struck her:

* * *

**--- FLASHBACK ---**

"_I'll kill him now, while he's defenseless… after all, he almost killed Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou, and Sai! It was his fault that those guys pushed themselves just to drag him here! I'll end his life, as revenge for the things he has done, especially to me!"_Sakura thought to herself as she was with Tsunade and other medic ninjas trying to heal a critically injured Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura was dazed from all the thinking. She wasn't at all focused on operating this bloody man struggling in between life and death in front of her. Her healing chakra started to become a cutting chakra… her thoughts had completely overwhelmed her.

Blood spurted on her face, on her clothes and on her already bloody hands. The blood belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sakura, what are you doing! We're trying to heal his muscles! You just cut an artery! Focus your chakra right!" Tsunade slapped away Sakura's hands as she moved over to the said cut artery and healed it herself.

Sakura was brought back to all her senses as she just realized what she had done – she had just cut a major artery, instead of healing the muscles surrounding and near that artery.

"Tsunade-sama, he's losing a lot of blood!" Shizune panicked as she helped Tsunade heal the cut artery.

"Sakura, what were you thinking! You almost killed him!" Tsunade scolded.

**--- END OF FLASHBACK ---

* * *

**

Sakura stopped walking and her eyes narrowed. She unconsciously ran a hand on her cheek were Sasuke's blood used to be in that memory.

Yes, what was she thinking back then?

"_As a medic nin, my obligation is to save lives. As a medic nin, I have the power to take away a patient's life. But as a medic nin, I am known to save lives. I can only take lives when I absolutely have to."_ Sakura remembered the medic nin code taught to her by Tsunade.

She could only take away the life of a person when she absolutely has to. But in that situation, the scene that had just flashed in her mind… was it a necessity that she had to kill him? The most primary reason for her doing it is because he had hurt her emotionally. But really, is that a good enough reason to kill him?

Is it because he seriously injured Kakashi, Yamato, Sai and Naruto? And now, he has to pay the equal price of putting 4 lives in danger?

Wait a minute, even **he** was seriously injured! He was far more seriously injured – he was seriously, **seriously**, more injured than the others.

And else, didn't those four **want** to bring him back? They **volunteered** to do the mission when Tsunade **didn't command them to do so**. If so, they didn't **need** to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke, they **want** to retrieve him.

And being an adult that she is right now, she should know the differences between **want** and **need**.

"Sakura-san?" a fellow medic nin, who was doing rounds as well, called, "Sakura-san, are you okay?"

Sakura snapped out of her reveries and faked a smile, "Oh yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" the medic nin asked.

"Yes." She nodded, "Thanks for the concern."

And so, they went their separate ways so as to do the duties assigned to them.

Sakura stared at her clipboard. The next task was…

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the list of assignments on her clipboard.

Her next duty is to do a checkup on Uchiha Sasuke. The very same person she almost killed last night. She started walking and prayed that he was still asleep.

She now stood before the door that will lead her inside the Uchiha's room. Her heart was pounding fast and hard in her chest. A bead of sweat from her temple rolled down until it reached the tip of her chin; she wiped it away with the back of her hand and sighed. She placed her hand on the handle of the door and slowly slid it open. She observed the man on the bed – his eyes were shut tight, and his breathing tells her he's asleep. She noticed the countless bandages on his body.

She silently sighed again and stepped inside the chilly room, closing the door behind her quietly.

She walked towards the window, her footsteps feather light so as not to make any sounds. The sun's rays were illuminating the room and the sleeping man. She placed her hands on the dark blue curtains and she fisted her trembling hands in it.

"_Sakura, what were you thinking! You almost killed him!"_ Tsunade's words echoed in her mind.

She gnashed her teeth and her fists loosened as she shoved the curtains to cover the windows.

She now stood beside the only known heir to the Uchiha Clan. She placed her two fingers near his throat and set the stopwatch to 60 seconds.

"_Sakura, what are you doing! We're trying to heal his muscles! You just cut an artery! Focus your chakra right!"_ Tsunade's scolding disturbed her.

Her eyes narrowed and she quickly withdrew her hand from the lad. She stopped the timer of the stopwatch and reset it. Sakura placed a hand on her face and closed her eyes, trying to put all her pieces together.

"_I can't do this."_ Sakura thought as she opened her eyes and looked at the man in front of her.

* * *

_**Sakura was dazed from all the thinking. She wasn't at all focused on operating this bloody man struggling in between life and death in front of her. Her healing chakra started to become a cutting chakra… her thoughts had completely overwhelmed her.**_

_**Blood spurted on her face, on her clothes and on her already bloody hands. The blood belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

**_

Her eyes narrowed even more and she took a step backward. She placed a hand on her cheek and placed it in front of her just to see her palm. There was blood on it. Her whole body trembled and she blinked. She looked at her palm and saw that the blood was gone. She has been hallucinating.

She bit her lips and shoved open the door. Before she could step out, she heard: "Coward."

Her eyes trembled at the voice of the Uchiha. She closed her eyes and finally got out.

She ran back towards the receiving desk and she asked the nurse, "Who's going to do the checkups for Sai, Yamato-taichou and Naruto?"

The nurse looked at the login book and replied, "That's going to be Maya, a medic nin… Oh here she is now."

Sakura turned around and saw a medic nin in uniform reporting on the other side of the receiving desk. She had just arrived from the hospital and she's signing in on the login book.

"Hi, you're Maya?" Sakura smiled sweetly at the medic.

"Ah yes, Sakura-san." Maya replied, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can." Sakura inched closer and whispered, "Look, can we switch assignments for today?"

"But that's against the-" Maya was cut off when she noticed the deadly glare in Sakura's eyes.

"It's only against the rules if a medic nin swaps assignments with a nurse or vice versa. If a medic nin swaps assignments with a fellow medic nin, then it's okay." Sakura reassuringly said, "Remember the Medic Nin Codes? It's on Code 64 of the Konoha Hospital Handbook."

Maya didn't look like the reader or keep-in-mind-this-and-that type, so she had no choice but to listen to Sakura. Anyway, Sakura **is** one of the best, right? So she knows better!

Maya nodded and gave her clipboard to Sakura. Sakura smiled and gave Maya her clipboard, "Thanks."

"_Coward."_ The voice of Sasuke echoed through her ears.

She faked a smile as she walked in the hallways of the hospital.

"_I guess… I really am." _She thought.

_TBC…_  
--- --- --- --- ---  
**Sakura successfully changed her course of assignment for the day. She stopped to see her patients: Yamato, Sai and Naruto. She was able to have a good chat with Yamato and Naruto. However, that night, she didn't feel too comfortable with her job… someone was awake when they should be sleeping.**

_**Act 3: Amidst the Pain**_

"_**Aren't you happy to see Sasuke-teme?"**_  
**-Uzumaki Naruto**

**Don't forget to drop by a review!**

**+Releina Artemis+**


	3. Amidst the Pain

**(Act 3 – Amidst the Pain)**

"Ah, Sakura!" Yamato smiled at the pink-haired kunoichi who just entered the room, "Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"And I'm glad to see you too, Yamato-taichou!" Sakura smiled as she pressed her two fingers near Yamato's throat and set the stopwatch to 60 seconds, "I'm just here to check on you. I'm going to get your heartbeat rate, so just breathe well and relax."

She then began counting his heartbeats. Afterwards, she wrote her observations on the clipboard and wore her stethoscope, "Now I'm going to see how your heart's doing."

Sakura placed the other end of the stethoscope on Yamato's chest and listened to his heartbeat, while she instructs, "Breathe in, breathe out… breathe in, breathe out… breathe in, breathe out…"

She removed the stethoscope and draped it over her neck and wrote down her observations.

"You really are taking this job seriously, aren't you?" Yamato snickered.

"Well, yeah." Sakura replied, "It gives off a good pay, you save lives, you learn new and interesting things about patients, it gives you more experience, you can make new friends, you can feel like a kid again when the patients are kids, you can slack off if you want to… actually, I love this job. There are more things than those I've mentioned on why I take this job seriously... The only part I find hating about this job is the afternoon until midnight shift. There's nothing to do during the night!"

"Well, now I know why you're quite honored in Konoha lately." Yamato raised an eyebrow at her, "Not to mention partially because you're the Hokage's student."

"Haha, that's true." Sakura giggled, "Do you need anything, Yamato-taichou? Like do you want something in particular to eat?"

"I hope hospital food here doesn't suck." He scowled, "You're not going to feed me seaweed patties, cabbage bread and seawater soda, are you?"

"No, we're not. Just broccoli sausage, radish pancakes and carrot-tomato juice. But if you want the stuff you mentioned, I can tell the cafeteria staff." Sakura told him.

Yamato looked grossed out and said, "Is there anything edible to HUMANS here?"

"I was just kidding. We don't have those kinds of gross foods in the cafeteria. If you want something in particular, you can go ask a nurse and we'll get it for you." Sakura said, "You're in good shape. You can be released by tomorrow."

"You know Sakura," Yamato suddenly changed the mood to serious; "I think it was a good decision that you didn't come with us."

Sakura smiled, "For the reason, I shouldn't know, right?"

Yamato nodded, "For the reason, you shouldn't really know."

"I'm tired of putting myself in dangerous situations outside the medical field." Sakura sighed, "I'll just be concerned with that if Tsunade-sama would send me out on missions."

"Right." Yamato remarked.

"Well then, I need to go now." Sakura waved goodbye and left the room.

She went to the next assignment, which was to check on Sai. She got inside his room and found that he was still asleep. She did what she needed to do and immediately got out.

Next, she was going to check on Naruto.

There was a note on his door, and she smiled as she noticed that it were his scribbles. The note on the door says, "No visitors allowed!"

And on the benches near the room of the upcoming Rokudaime, were baskets of fruits, bouquets of flowers, get-well-soon letters, and instant ramen packs, and lots, lots more. She assumed that these gifts were from his supporters. She slid the door open and told Naruto, "Ehh? Not accepting visitors lately?"

Naruto waved at Sakura. He was busy eating ramen.

"Yeah, because of them, I couldn't get my well-deserved rest! I heard you were the one who told the good nurse, who brought me these ramen, to buy them?" Naruto asked, piling his second bowl of ramen on his bedside table. He took another bowl from the plastic bag seated beside him, "You don't how much I missed this!"

"Well, you were really injured a lot, so you'll be staying here for quite some time. Tsunade-sama planned to move your inauguration as Hokage next week. She wants you to rest for this week." Sakura took a chair and sat beside him, "Do the wounds sting?"

"Nope, not really!" He replied, grinning, "The ramen makes me feel better! I feel like my wounds are getting better with each bowl!"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, hooray… Ramen can heal wounds, what a medical breakthrough."

"How's one month without us guys?"

"Trouble-free." Sakura smiled, "…But kinda sad, too. I missed you guys."

"I finally fulfilled the promise, Sakura-chan." He said rather seriously, "And now, I can take the title as Rokudaime."

Her smile turned upside down and looked away, "Yeah."

"Aren't you happy to see Sasuke-teme?"

"I am." She lied, "I really am."

"Nah, you're not." Naruto sensed, "But at least he's back now. And I made sure he won't be able to get away from Konoha… most especially that I'm going to be Hokage!"

"I'm very happy for you, Naruto." Sakura faked a smile, "But what you said… yeah, I'm not really happy to see Sasuke again… but what I meant is- ah, forget it. I don't know what my reaction was when I saw him. I… I moved on already! All of you guys are here, home, safe and sound. That's what really matters most to me now."

Naruto piled his third bowl of ramen on the bedside table and took the other bowl, emptying the plastic bag.

"Are you going to be okay with him around?" He asked, "I know he's got more injuries than I did. So obviously, he's going to stay longer than I do… and knowing that you're a regular here already-"

"I think I can move around, despite the fact that he will stay longer than you would." She interrupted, "In fact, he's got the most injuries from all of you! You're only second to that!"

"Hehehe, I did that to make sure he won't run away while we journey back to Konoha… The others beat the crap out if him, too!" He sheepishly grinned.

She sighed, "Now how am I going to perform a checkup on you when you've eaten so much!"

"Why? Can't you do your checkups while I'm eating?"

"Nope. Your heartbeats might change while digesting. So I'll be back here after 2 hours." Sakura stood up as she wrote down on her clipboard, beside the name of this assignment, that she'll be back in this room after a couple of hours.

"Ooh, okay!" Naruto nodded, "See you later!"

She nodded and exited the room.

That night…

Sakura had been watching the clock mounted on the wall again. She was sitting groggily on the receiving desk. It was already late at night, so most of the medic nins, nurses, doctors, visitors and specialists have left the building to sleep in the comfort of their homes. She was only one of the few – the unfortunate few – to be working in the hospital in late hours. And because it was late hours, nothing much of a fuss should be going on in the hospital, as all of the patients are asleep. When emergency happens, the few staff of the hospital will be there.

She was lucky enough that her work was in an afternoon to midnight shift. She could still go home and sleep while it's still dark. Unlike the few others, who have to report to the hospital late at night, or at midnight, and stay there until morning.

And because there isn't that much to do, she can't help but watch a boring clock tick tock until midnight, when her shift ends.

Right now, it's 10:30 P.M. She still has to wait an hour and a half before she could go home. And she was hoping that no emergency will happen, so that she doesn't have to go home in the morning. Just like the incident last night-

She snapped out of her reveries when she sensed someone walking. She stood up and looked in the hallways to see who it was.

"What are you doing here? Go back to your room!" Sakura scolded.

"Don't be so mean." It was Kakashi, flashing a smile, noticeable even under his mask, as he cautiously made his way to Sakura, "I was just looking for my book."

Sakura sighed and asked, "You walked all the way from your room until here just to look for your perverted book? And your legs are injured! Kakashi-sensei, those wounds are not yet fully healed, even though I used medical ninjutsu to heal them!"

"Well, sorry for that." Kakashi scratched the back of his head, "But I couldn't sleep. So I need the book-"

"How about reading today's newspaper?"

"You know Sakura, the day is about to end, what good would I read on today's newspaper-"

"You have been gone for a month. Today's newspaper is still good as it looks, most especially for someone who has been gone for quite sometime. It will lull you to sleep more effectively than… than **that** book of yours."

Kakashi sighed, "I haven't been reading that book for quite some time-"

"Then why did you have it with you during the trip?" Sakura countered.

"I read it when we have to rest! It's like a relaxation technique, to free myself from the troubles-"

"Relaxing when you should be strategizing?"

"That's Yamato's job-"

"Even so! You and Yamato-taichou have the most experience in the team, so it's your responsibility to strategize!"

"Okay, I give up." Kakashi sighed defeated, "I'm going back to my room!"

Sakura smiled, "I was just playing mind games with you."

She went to the storage room just near the receiving desk and found a bag labeled with Kakashi's name on it. She found his beloved orange book and gave it to him, "Now go back to your room and sleep afterwards."

"Yes Ma'am!" Kakashi saluted and made his way back to his room.

After a while, Sakura had been feeling a little bit sleepy.

"_I should walk around to shake off the sleep."_ Sakura thought as she started to walk around the hallways of the hospital.

She stopped by every room, peeking through the glass windows on the doors, making sure that they're asleep. To the few that weren't asleep, she would knock on the door and remind the patient to sleep and then walk off.

She stopped in front of Sasuke's room and decided to peek anyway. Her eyes narrowed when she found out that Sasuke wasn't in bed.

_TBC…_

--- --- --- --- ---  
**Sakura enters Sasuke's room and looks for him. A deep masculine voice startles her and she abruptly turns around to see who it was. Much to her surprise, it was Uchiha Sasuke, with Sharingan eyes staring sharply at her. They had a small conversation, which then leads to a horrific repeating of a memory to Sakura. Is it the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan?**

_**Act 4: Hemophobic**_

"_**One of the countless reasons I find Konoha a much better place without you."**_  
**-Haruno Sakura**

**_A/N:_ Ah, the story is getting better, neh? Anyway, in case you're wondering how Sasuke got the Mangekyou Sharingan, I have no idea as well. I decided to make Sasuke have the Mangekyou Sharingan. In the manga, Kakashi also possesses the Mangekyou Sharingan although it wasn't pointed out how he got it. So I just had the idea of doing the same to Sasuke here. Fear not, dear readers, the story still progresses on!**

**Review and tell me what you think.**

**+Releina Artemis+**


	4. Hemophobic

**(Previously)**

"_I should walk around to shake off the sleep."_ Sakura thought as she started to walk around the hallways of the hospital.

She stopped by every room, peeking through the glass windows on the doors, making sure that they're asleep. To the few that weren't asleep, she would knock on the door and remind the patient to sleep and then walk off.

She stopped in front of Sasuke's room and decided to peek anyway. Her eyes narrowed when she found out that Sasuke wasn't in bed.

**(Act 4 – Hemophobic)**

She quickly slid open the door and ran inside the room. She saw that the windows were open and she looked down and scrolled the surroundings below, for any signs of his escape.

"Who gave you permission to enter?" hissed a voice.

Sakura froze on the spot, her eyes narrowed all the more, if that was even possible.

She calmed down and closed the window. She reached for her jacket's pockets for an explosive tag. She placed three explosive tags on the closed windows.

"Thinking I would escape?" said that deep voice again, "I'm not a **coward** like **you**."

"Ah, so you're not escaping from boring old jolly Konoha?" Sakura turned around to see Sasuke standing in the corner of the room, with his arms crossed. His Sharingan was activated for some unknown reason.

She noticed that his eyes were different, so she quickly broke her gaze from his eyes and instead stared at his feet.

Sasuke noticed the medic nin hat on Sakura's head and mocked, "You made use of your weakness… being a pathetic medic nin. Medic ninjas become one because they couldn't defend themselves and degrade themselves just by helping those who aren't cowards by mending their wounds."

"Wow, thank you for such remarks." Sakura rolled her eyes, "One of the countless reasons I find Konoha a much better place without you."

Sasuke was irritated by that remark that his Sharingan whirled a bit.

Sakura approached the door and tried to slide it open, but she withdrew her hand, once she felt and seen electricity cackles on the door.

"_Great! Just great! I can't punch this door down because everyone's asleep. Now that I've sealed the windows with explosive tags, there's no escape!"_ Sakura thought.

"What are you planning?" Sakura asked, "Conducting electricity on this door, why won't you let me leave **your** room?"

**(_A/N:_ In Chapter 308 of the manga, Sakura learns, in Team 7's encounter with Sasuke in Otogakure, that Sasuke can now use his Chidori in every part of his body without much effort. He can even use a sword fusing Chidori on that sword.)**

He didn't reply.

Sakura was ticked off by now.

"What's your name again?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura looked at him; of course, they only met after 8 years. He still remembered her name when they encountered him 8 years ago in Otogakure. 8 years… since he acknowledged her as weak, of course he'll forget her name easily.

"You don't need to know that." Sakura replied, "My name's not really important."

"Answer me."

"I don't like to." She eyed him sharply, "You can't force me to give my name when I don't even want to."

He was really being fed up with her words. He knows he met her. He knows she was his teammate. He **knows** her… He just forgot her name. 8 years were pretty much an impact on his memories of Konoha. But when he encountered Naruto and the others, he remembered a pink-haired girl trying to stop him.

"_She must be that girl."_ Sasuke thought, _"…That wimpy girl."

* * *

_

**--- FLASHBACK ---**

"_I'll kill him now, while he's defenseless… after all, he almost killed Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou, and Sai! It was his fault that those guys pushed themselves just to drag him here! I'll end his life, as revenge for the things he has done to me!"_Sakura thought to herself as she was with Tsunade, Shizune and other medic ninjas trying to heal a critically injured Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura was dazed from all the thinking. She wasn't at all focused on operating this bloody man struggling in between life and death in front of her. Her healing chakra started to become a cutting chakra… her thoughts had completely overwhelmed her.

Blood spurted on her face, on her clothes and on her already bloody hands. The blood belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sakura, what are you doing! We're trying to heal his muscles! You just cut an artery! Focus your chakra right!" Tsunade slapped away Sakura's hands as she moved over to the said cut artery and healed it herself.

Sakura was brought back to all her senses as she just realized what she had done – she had just cut a major artery, instead of healing the muscles surrounding and near that artery.

"Tsunade-sama, he's losing a lot of blood!" Shizune panicked as she helped Tsunade heal the cut artery.

"Sakura, what were you thinking! You almost killed him!" Tsunade scolded.

**--- END OF FLASHBACK ---

* * *

**

Sakura's fists were trembling as she clenched them tightly with the curtains, her eyes shut tight, her eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip, she bit it so hard, blood was already trickling down from her lips to the tip of her chin.

"_That memory again."_ Sakura thought.

Sasuke was just watching her. She looked like an idiot, but he knows that she might be angry with him for a reason.

She opened her eyes and with her cold hand, she reached down her chin to wipe out the liquid she thought to be sweat… but then her eyes narrowed and trembled when she saw… blood.

* * *

_**Sakura was dazed from all the thinking. She wasn't at all focused on operating this bloody man struggling in between life and death in front of her. Her healing chakra started to become a cutting chakra… her thoughts had completely overwhelmed her.**_

_**Blood spurted on her face, on her clothes and on her already bloody hands. The blood belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

**_

She trembled more and more, until tears were forming in her eyes. She didn't know that what happened to her mentor would happen to her, too… hemophobia, the fear of blood.

"Blood…!" she subconsciously said.

She trembled more and more, her throat was running dry, her breathing was speeding up and she was sweating cold.

* * *

_**Blood spurted on her face, on her clothes and on her already bloody hands. The blood belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

**_

She then saw the whole room was full of blood, the bed was occupied by Sasuke, bleeding due to critical injuries, splashes of his blood were on the bedside table, the bed covers dripping with his blood, the walls were smeared with blood, and on the floor were puddles of blood. Sakura looked at herself and saw that her hands were dripping with another person's blood, and that her clothing has been smeared with blood.

* * *

Sasuke was just staring at Sakura, he didn't know what was happening to her. He was sure he wasn't using his Mangekyou Sharingan at her…

…Or did he subconsciously use it on her?

His eyes narrowed at that thought. He deactivated his Sharingan and quickly rushed at Sakura, holding her by her shoulders.

"Oi, what's wrong with you?" Sasuke asked.

* * *

"Oi, what's wrong with you?" Sakura heard a voice.

She looked at the bloody room and when she blinked, she saw Sasuke wasn't on the bed anymore.

"Snap out of it!" the owner of the voice appeared in front of her.

Sakura blinked again and she was horrified when a bloody-faced Uchiha Sasuke was already in front of her, shaking her by the shoulders.

* * *

"Snap out of it!" Sasuke started shaking her by the shoulders.

Sakura looked terrified, she was losing breath.

… And then she fainted.

* * *

The next day…

"We found her in Uchiha Sasuke's room." A medic nin told Tsunade.

Two medic nins found Haruno Sakura's unconscious body in Sasuke's room. They found Sasuke fast asleep on his bed but Sakura… Sakura was on the floor.

"What is she doing there?" Tsunade asked, "She's on an afternoon until midnight shift, right? All she has to do is to sit and stay alert at the receiving desk!"

"She must be walking around," another medic nin replied, "I found her walking around last week and she told me she does that to get rid of her sleepiness."

They were in the emergency room; Sakura was laying on the bed with machines attached to her.

Tsunade looked at her student's hands and found a smear of blood on her fingers.

"Where did she get the blood?" Tsunade asked yet again.

"Her lower lip was bleeding, she must've wiped it away." A medic nin replied, watching the vital signs monitor, "I wiped off the blood from her chin earlier. I did notice that the trickle of blood was discontinued at the tip, so she must've wiped it off. Uhmm… Tsunade-sama?"

"What?" Tsunade turned around to face the medic nin.

"Tsunade-sama, Sakura's heartbeat is normal but her brainwaves…" the medic nin gulped the lump in his throat and continued, "Her brainwaves are abnormal."

"What!" Tsunade pushed the medic nin aside and looked at the vital signs monitor. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the abnormal brainwave feedback.

"Maybe," the other medic nin commented, "Uchiha Sasuke has something to do with it."

"That's possible." The medic nin beside Tsunade replied, "I heard from the upcoming Rokudaime Hokage that Uchiha Sasuke now possesses the Mangekyou Sharingan."

Tsunade added, "When I returned to Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi, were dazed and unconscious. Other jounins who were with Kakashi then, told me that Kakashi fell unconscious after an encounter with Uchiha Itachi. Jiraiya told me that Sasuke fell unconscious after an encounter with the same man."

"So those events are similar with this situation." the medic nin said, "It's just that it's not Uchiha Itachi who did it. Uchiha Sasuke isn't the victim of the Mangekyou Sharingan in this event. He is the suspect."

"Let's hear what he has to say." Tsunade left the emergency room, "Get some neurologists to test Sakura."

_TBC…_  
--- --- --- --- ---  
**Neurologists inform Tsunade that Sakura had indeed abnormal brainwaves. They say she was quite disturbed and startled before she fell unconscious. Tsunade visits Sasuke, wakes him up and interrogates. But it looks like an insult to her student ticked her off.**

_**Act 5: Broken from Reality**_

"_**Just tell me you're accusing me."**_  
**-Uchiha Sasuke

* * *

**

**_A/N:_ I am welcome for any suggestions, ideas, inquiries and comments. Feel free to contact me.**

**Do drop a review for this fic, please!**

**+Releina Artemis+**


	5. Broken from Reality

**(Previously)**

Tsunade added, "When I returned to Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke and Hatake Kakashi, were dazed and unconscious. Other jounins who were with Kakashi then, told me that Kakashi fell unconscious after an encounter with Uchiha Itachi. Jiraiya told me that Sasuke fell unconscious after an encounter with the same man."

"So those events are similar with this situation." the medic nin said, "It's just that it's not Uchiha Itachi who did it. Uchiha Sasuke isn't the victim of the Mangekyou Sharingan in this event. He is the suspect."

"Let's hear what he has to say." Tsunade left the emergency room, "Get some neurologists to test Sakura."

**(Act 5 – Broken from Reality)**

"Wake up." Tsunade spoke as she stood beside the sleeping Uchiha Sasuke, with her hands on her hips, frustration and anger evident on her face.

"Wake up!" Tsunade yelled.

Sasuke opened his eyes.

"What did you do to Sakura?" She immediately asked as soon as she saw his eyes open.

"Who is Sakura?" Sasuke asked, yawning.

"Sakura is the medic nin we found in your room."

"The pink-haired coward?"

"You didn't just say that."

"I just did."

Tsunade flew a punch to the wall above Sasuke's headboard, creating a dent on the concrete and cracks reaching up the ceiling.

"Nobody calls my student a coward." She answered, "You were away from Konoha for 10 years, so you don't know what change she's undergone. You didn't even remember her name! What right do you have to call her a coward?"

The explosive tags on the closed window caught her attention.

"Who put those explosive tags on your window?" She asked.

"That woman." Sasuke sat up, "Her name's Sakura right? Ah right… now I remember, her name is Haruno Sakura…"

"For what reason? What was her reason for putting explosive tags on your window?"

"She thought I was escaping this hospital through the open window." He answered, "She wanted to get out of this room quickly, but I didn't let her because she irritated me."

"And what did you do to her?"

"Nothing."

"SHE ENDED UP UNCONSCIOUS WITH ABNORMAL BRAINWAVES IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM FOR NOTHING?" Tsunade scolded, "IF YOU DON'T TELL ME NOW, I SWEAR I'LL TEAR YOU TO PIECES! DON'T MAKE **ME** ANGRY!"

"You already are."

She grinded her teeth and said, "Tell me what you know now or you'll end up in the emergency room **and** the operating room as well!"

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, "I really don't know."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!" She retorted, "SHE WAS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS ON THE FLOOR IN **YOUR** ROOM, AND YOU DON'T KNOW THE REASON?"

"Just tell me you're accusing me."

"YES!" She tried to calm down a bit, "I'm accusing **you**!"

"I didn't do anything to her!" he harangued, "Even **I** don't know what happened!"

"Why should I believe you? You've been missing for 10 years-"

"I don't care how long I have been missing; all I know is that I don't know what happened!" Sasuke snapped back, "I didn't use my Sharingan on her!"

"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes, "And then you'll make me believe that pigs will sprout wings on their backs tomorrow and fly with the birds?"

"I just saw her trembling and she was terrified when she saw her own blood." He calmed down now, "I just don't get it – she's supposed to be a medic nin, why is she so afraid of blood?"

"Blood…?" Tsunade finally became attentive.

She remembered the time when she was a hemophobic. How did she become one again? Oh yeah, when she couldn't save Dan from a critical injury…

The Godaime Hokage's eyes widened, _"I became a hemophobic back then because I couldn't save Dan from a critical injury! So that means... When Sakura was healing Sasuke back then, it was her first time to see him after 8 years and she wasn't concentrating on what she was doing. As a result, she accidentally or intentionally cut a major artery, spurting blood on her face, hands and clothes… That's it!"_

"Are you sure you didn't use the Mangekyou on her?" she asked.

"I'm positively sure. My Sharingan was activated at that time, but I didn't use the Mangekyou on her." Sasuke replied.

In an instant, Tsunade got outside and made her way towards the emergency room.

"Is she conscious?" Tsunade asked.

"Not yet." A medic nin replied.

Now, the emergency room was filled with 4 medic nins, 2 nurses and 3 neurologists.

"Her brainwaves are quite abnormal." A neurologist replied, "She has been disturbed or frightened greatly by something. She must be under a jutsu or something…"

"Is it possible that the abnormal brainwaves are caused by a phobia attack before she fainted?" Tsunade asked.

The neurologist blinked and nodded, "That is possible… but as far as I know, records say she has a normal fear for anything that a human should fear. Remember, a phobia is an **abnormal** fear for something."

"And when you have an abnormal fear, you begin hallucinating: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling things far apart from reality. You will feel like the very thing you fear the most is already eating you alive." Tsunade replied, "She fainted because of a phobia attack."

"But what did she fear precisely?" a nurse asked.

"Is it possible that we can wake her up?" Tsunade questioned the neurologists.

"She's not in the Rapid Eye Movement stage, and she isn't in the Coma stage either… so, I guess we can." Another neurologist replied.

"Then wake her up." Tsunade replied.

After a few minutes…

Sakura sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Why the hell am I in the emergency room?" Sakura looked at the machine cords attached to her.

Tsunade stood beside Sakura and took a kunai.

"Sakura look at me, okay?" Tsunade smiled.

With one swipe of a scalpel she picked up from the drawers of the emergency room earlier, Tsunade's palm was bleeding.

"Hokage-sama!" everyone in the room gasped.

"Blood…" Sakura whispered as she uncontrollably began shaking.

"Get away from me! Get away!" Sakura screamed.

The neurologists went by her sides and tried to calm her down by injecting a tranquilizer drug into her system.

Tsunade healed her own hand and said, "She's positive for hemophobia."

"How did you know that she has hemophobia? That it was a hemophobic attack that sent her unconscious?" a neurologist asked.

"Uchiha Sasuke told me he saw her trembling when she saw her own blood." Tsunade replied, "That was very unlike of her indeed."

"What should we do?" a medic nin asked.

"I'll think about it." Tsunade answered as she exited the emergency room.

* * *

Sasuke's door slid open and in came the Godaime Hokage.

"Now what?" Sasuke hissed, "Are you here to arrest me?"

"I'll arrest you for treachery to Konoha as soon as you're fully-healed." Tsunade said, "For once, you've been telling the truth."

Sasuke glared at her and sighed, "I told you so."

"She's positive for hemophobia, an abnormal fear for blood." Tsunade informed him, "She was never a hemophobic before."

"What do I care?"

"She almost killed you."

"What?" Sasuke hissed, "What do you mean by that!"

"When you were brought here to the hospital, she helped me in healing you, along with a medical team. She wasn't at all being focused at what she's doing because it was her first time to see you again after 8 years. She had given up on hoping you'll be back here but when you did, maybe she had been cursing herself." She added, "While she was operating on you, her healing chakra turned into a cutting chakra and she accidentally or intentionally cut one of your major arteries, causing you to bleed fatally at that time. You already lost a lot of blood due to your countless injuries, and cutting a major artery just made it worse. You were supposed to die then because of that, but it was a good thing that I restored the artery with the help of the medical team."

Sasuke had his eyes closed, just listening to Tsunade.

"When she cut your artery, your blood spurted onto her face, her hands and her clothes." Tsunade placed a hand on her hips, "I'm sure she was dazed at what happened. So flashbacks of the events must've traumatized her and when she saw her own blood, she thought it was yours. That event caused her to have hallucinations, therefore causing a phobia seizure."

"All I can say is that I didn't use the Mangekyou on her." Sasuke sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"I know that." She told him, "If you used the Mangekyou on her, she would not be able to wake up. But she did, just now. And I tested her to see what her phobia was, and I saw it myself, she's a hemophobic now."

"So you're saying?"

"Hypnotism is a good way to cure phobias." Tsunade smirked.

"And so?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm asking you to use your Mangekyou Sharingan… to hypnotize her and cure her from her hemophobia." The Godaime Hokage said.

_TBC…_

--- --- --- --- ---  
**The Fifth Hokage clarifies her ideas to Sasuke on how to heal Sakura from hemophobia using his Mangekyou Sharingan. However, this idea seems too ridiculous for Sasuke. Tsunade had to compromise something that might go in the wrong way just to make him agree.**

_**Act 6: Submission to Unfaithfulness**_

"_**WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED HERE!"**_  
**-Haruno Sakura**

**_A/N:_ I am welcome for any suggestions, ideas, inquiries and comments. Feel free to contact me.**

**Do drop a review for this fic, please!**

**+Releina Artemis+**


	6. Submission to Unfaithfulness

**(Previously)**

"Hypnotism is a good way to cure phobias." Tsunade smirked.

"And so?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm asking you to use your Mangekyou Sharingan… to hypnotize her and cure her from her hemophobia." The Godaime Hokage said.

**(Act 6 – Submission to Unfaithfulness)**

Sasuke snickered at that, "What? Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Tsunade looked dead serious.

"No." Sasuke's snickering was reduced into a ridiculed smirk on his face, "I won't use my Mangekyou on her just to cure her. What do I care about her?"

"If you use the Mangekyou on her and cured her, I won't arrest you for treachery. I won't arrest you, at all!" she answered, "So, do we have a deal, Mr. Uchiha?"

The Uchiha prodigy sighed, "Look, if I use the Mangekyou Sharingan on her, she will become unconscious after a few memory attacks-"

"No problem, I can always cure her." Tsunade interrupted, "So, do we have a deal?"

"Are you sure you're not going to imprison me?" Sasuke aksed.

"You've got the word of the Hokage."

"Deal."

A few minutes later…

Machines were attached to Sasuke and to Sakura in the emergency room.

"We're going to keep track of how far you have been into Sakura's mind. We'll send an electric current to your system once we've detected that you're not in a good place anymore in her mind." A neurologist told Sasuke after putting the last cord onto his forehead.

Sakura was held by three nurses on a sitting position in front of him, as the neurologists were attaching the cords onto her head and her upper spine. Sakura had her head down, her eyes tightly closed, obviously, she was still unconscious.

"Okay we're ready." Another neurologist signaled after observing the brainwaves of the two.

A small charge of electric current was sent to Sakura's spine and she opened her eyes.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan. The nurses gently but firmly held Sakura's head – for her to be able to look directly into Sasuke's eyes.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Sakura tried to shake her head madly, to try to remove the nurses' holds on her, "Get off me, and stop it!"

"Hold her in place!" Tsunade demanded.

"What's this stuff all about, huh?" Sakura looked at Tsunade at the corner of her eyes as her head was held in place to face Sasuke.

Tsunade sighed and took a scalpel from the desk beside her. With one swipe of the scalpel, she made a small wound on her forearm, blood immediately gushing out from the wound.

"Blood… Blood…!" Sakura's eyes narrowed and she looked away from Tsunade and turned to look at Sasuke.

"_Sakura, look away!"_ Sakura's inner self screamed, _"Look a-"_

But it was too late – Sakura's green eyes turned hazy as Sasuke successfully performed the Mangekyou.

"She's awake but… She's in the Rapid Eye Movement stage!" the neurologist observing Sakura's monitors said.

In Sakura's mind…

A medic nin named Sakura was seated on her seat in the receiving desk of the hospital. It was late at night and she was watching the clock.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock… tick… tock… tick… … … tock… … tick…

Sakura blinked at the clock and rubbed her eyes as she saw the clock moving slowly… until the hands suddenly stopped moving.

She stood up and approached the clock. The clock stopped a minute before it hit twelve in the midnight.

"_The battery must be dead."_ She thought.

She sighed and decided to sign the logout book. What difference does it make anyway? It's not like she was going to do something when it's already 11:59, well, except sign her name on the logout book.

Finished, she finally got out of the hospital.

While she was walking, dark rain clouds covered the full moon and it began raining.

"_Oh great!"_ Sakura said as she ran under the rain, trying to find the nearest shelter.

She has been running for quite a while now, but how come there were no shelters in sight? She knows there's one not too far.

She stopped running, and tried catching her breath. She slouched, with her hands on her knees and tried to slow down her heartbeat. She looked at her surroundings…

She has been running around in circles!

She made a handseal and said, "Genjutsu Kai!"

The visions before her blurred and she found herself in the emergency room.

… And Sasuke was in front of her, bleeding madly.

"Sakura, what are you doing! We're trying to heal his muscles! You just cut an artery! Focus your chakra right!" Tsunade slapped away Sakura's hands as she moved over to the said cut artery and healed it herself.

Sakura was brought back to all her senses as she just realized what she had done – she had just cut a major artery, instead of healing the muscles surrounding and near that artery.

"Tsunade-sama, he's losing a lot of blood!" Shizune panicked as she helped Tsunade heal the cut artery.

"Sakura, what were you thinking! You almost killed him!" Tsunade scolded.

Sakura took a step backwards and looked at her hands, her bloodstained hands. Her eyes narrowed and trembled. She looked at her clothes and saw that they were stained with his blood as well.

"_Blood…! Blood…!"_ Sakura panicked.

She ran out of the room and went to the sterilizing area. She opened the faucet and tried to wash off the blood from her hands.

She splashed water onto her face frantically to get rid of the blood on her cheek. She looked at the mirror in front of her and was horrified to see the blood on her clothes. She saw them earlier but now that her hands and her face were free from blood, her clothes made her look like a killer.

She took off her jacket and her white shirt, until she was left with nothing on her torso except her bra. She went to the cabinets and took out a doctor's robe and she quickly put it on, buttoning the first six buttons that runs from her collarbone down to her bellybutton.

She looked at her clothes on the sink. She took them and threw them into the trash bin.

"Why are you so afraid of blood?" a voice hissed.

She quickly turned around, her senses still trying to be alert, amidst the fear that she feels all over her body.

But when she did turn around, only more fear took over her body.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED HERE!" she shouted trying to step backwards, in a desperate move to find the backdoor.

"You're a medic nin, aren't you supposed to be tougher than that?" Uchiha Sasuke asked.

Sasuke was perfectly fine! No signs of lacerations, injuries… just a serious look in his Sharingan eyes.

"When did you start caring?" Sakura said, "GUARDS! GUARDS! ANYONE! AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL HAS ENTERED THE STERILIZING ROOM!"

"They won't hear you, Sakura." Sasuke moved closer.

Sakura found a scalpel in the tools' drying and sterilizing area. She took it and charged Sasuke. Sasuke didn't move, surprised, Sakura only made a cut on his cheek.

Within seconds, she dropped the scalpel, realizing what she has done… and that was as soon as she saw blood on the edges of the scalpel. She looked at the man before her and saw that his cheek was bleeding.

Her eyes narrowed even more and she was running out of breath.

"I have a cut on my cheek. Heal me." He took her hand and placed it on his bleeding cheek.

He then showed to her his blood on her palm, "Look at it."

"NO!" Sakura closed her eyes as she tried to wiggle away from his hold.

"Why are you so afraid of blood?" he asked that question again.

She didn't reply… she just tried to wiggle out of his firm hold on her wrist.

"ANSWER ME!"

"Why? IT'S BECAUSE IT'S YOUR BLOOD!" Sakura finally replied, opening her eyes, "YOUR BLOOD MADE ME REALIZE THAT I WAS UNFAITHFUL!"

Sasuke just stared at her.

"Before you left Konoha, you thanked me. And I wanted to return the favor back to you by hoping for your return. And after 10 years, I stopped hoping. And just when I did, YOU have to come back! And the first thing that will slap me and will remind me that you're back… is your blood! And how I hated to see blood nowadays! I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE BLOOD I SEE IS YOURS!"

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, "You were… unfaithful?"

"I loved you and yet I gave up on it!" Sakura's tears are now forming in her eyes, "I cannot forgive myself for that!"

"Are you done?"

"W-What…?" Sakura asked.

"Are you done venting out all your frustrations on me?" he clarified.

She was silenced and he took that as a 'yes'.

"Look at your hand now." He instructed.

Her eyes hovered on her palm and she didn't panic anymore.

"I don't care if you turned yourself unfaithful." Sasuke let go of her hand and he wiped the blood off his cheek with the back of his hand, "All I know is that I won't be leaving this town anymore… Although I hate to say this, but… the truth is… you're needed here in Konoha… I hate to believe it, but… Konoha needs you."

Her glare just got stuck on the blood on her palm.

Shaking her head madly, she said, "But I am nobody… I am weak. Why would Konoha need an annoying weakling like me?"

"That's because you believe you're weak when others want you to believe you're strong because they see you strong." After saying that, Sasuke felt like he wanted to punch himself. When did he learn to say that? He just denies it, but after seeing her now, deep inside of himself, he believed she had gotten stronger.

Sakura looked straight at his Sharingan eyes. She looked away and returned her gaze at the blood on her palm.

"Are you still afraid of blood?" he asked.

She closed her eyes and sighed, wiping the blood off her hand on the robe she's wearing. She told him, "Please leave now before the authorities catch you here."

Sasuke nodded and left.

Back to the real world…

Sakura's eyes glistened back to their normal emerald green hue and she closed her eyes. Her body felt heavy to the nurses holding her.

"I became unfaithful…" Sakura said before fainting.

Sasuke was panting a bit after using quite a lot of chakra on his Mangekyou Sharingan. But he did catch her words.

"Tsunade-sama!" a neurologist called, "She's entering the Coma 1 stage!"

"She's advancing to the Coma 2 stage!" another neurologist reminded.

"Tsunade-sama!" the head neurologist panicked, "She has just advanced to the Deep Coma stage!"

_TBC…_  
--- --- --- --- ---  
**In sleep, Sakura recalls an event that she tried to forget but never would. And Sasuke remembers his trance with Sakura. This raises discomfort in his mind and decides to visit someone nobody would have thought he would ever confront again.**

_**Act 7: Crystal Clear Memoirs**_

"_**Questions? About what?"**_  
**-Uzumaki Naruto**

**_A/N:_ Anyway, sorry if it took me such a long time to update. I was just too busy with stuff, that's all. Any violent reactions?  
**

**I'd love to hear from you by reviewing!  
**

**+Releina Artemis+**


	7. Crystal Clear Memoirs

**_DISCLAIMER:_ Look buddy, I don't own Naruto.**

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**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_ So this chapter contains quite a lot of flashbacks with ponderings of the main characters. There will be more scenes in the next chapters. But for now, I wanted to add more drama to the plot by making this chapter.**

**So without any further ado…**

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**(Act 7 – Crystal Clear Memoirs)**

Sasuke was walking late at night with a backpack strapped onto him, when suddenly, Sakura stopped in front of him.

She gasped almost inaudibly as she saw him.

"What are you doing here? It's late at night, taking a stroll?" Sasuke told her.

"Those who leave the town, walk this route." She replied.

"Go home." He said, as he walked past her.

"Why Sasuke-kun?" Sakura stopped Sasuke on his tracks, tears forming in her eyes, "Sasuke-kun, why don't you talk to me? Why don't you want to speak? Please Sasuke-kun, talk to-"

"What for? What do I have to tell you?" Sasuke's anger was slowly rising, "The problem with you is that you always love to interfere. Don't bug me anymore."

"You always act like… like you always resent me, Sasuke-kun." Sakura gasped inaudibly as tears started to trickle down her face, "Can you still remember? When we turned to genins? When the first 3-man team was chosen? I can still remember it clearly; the two of us were in this very same place."

Sakura tried to smile but failed miserably, "You got angry at me at that time."

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"You see? You've got a problem with your attitude because you don't have parents anymore! And because you're now an orphan, you're not used to being scolded by parents! That's why you're so stubborn!" a long, pink-haired, 12-year-old Haruno Sakura told Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sadness." Sasuke said.

"H-huh, what?" Sakura blinked.

"…You can't compare that to any parents' temper."

"Uhm, wait a minute, what the hell are you saying, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura blinked again.

"You're really annoying." Sasuke said.

Sakura just gasped at that comment.

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"I don't remember anything like that." Sasuke told a crying Sakura, who was faking a smile.

Sakura's smile faded as soon as he said that. She then smiled again as she spoke, "Of course you won't, that was a long time ago! But I do believe that that was the start of it all! Our story, Sasuke-kun… Of course, in that story, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are also included."

Sakura began having flashbacks on her happiest memories with Team 7.

"The four of us… we're always together in missions. All of them are difficult… We always get on each other's nerves! But… even so… we're happy, right?"

Sakura's smile faded away and she bit her lips while her tears just rolled down her cheeks more and more.

She finally found her voice again, "Sasuke-kun, I know what happened to your clan. But… any form of revenge… cannot give you happiness… no one will be happy with that… not even **you**, Sasuke-kun… or even me…"

"I knew it." Sasuke spoke.

Sakura snapped her head up a bit to stare at his back.

"I am very different from all of you… There's a different path laid down for me." Sasuke told her, "The four of us… Yes, I once thought that maybe all of us have only the same dream. But even though we've been together for a long time… my heart still and only yearns for **revenge**. **That** is the reason why **I** live. There will **never** be a chance that **I** would be like **you** or **Naruto**."

Sasuke started walking again but he heard, "But Sasuke-kun, don't you feel any sadness when you're lonely?"

Sasuke stopped at his tracks… again.

"Weren't you the one who told me that being lonely hurts so much? Now is the only time when I've realized how much that hurts!" Sakura couldn't control herself anymore, "Yes, I do have my family and my friends… but… if you'll leave me alone, Sasuke-kun… for me… that makes no difference with… being alone in life!"

"From now on," he replied, "we'll walk on different paths."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called, "I love you so much! You're the most important person in my entire life!"

Sakura's tears are now more unstoppable, "Sasuke-kun, if you won't leave me… I promise you, you won't regret it! You'll always be happy! And you'll never be sad ever again! There is nothing I won't do **for you**, I promise! So please… I beg of you, don't leave! I'll help you with your revenge! I'll do everything and anything just to help you! I beg of you… don't leave me!"

"If for you, that's impossible… then take me with you as you leave, Sasuke-kun." Sakura now was sobbing, literally begging of him already to stay with her.

"Until now, you're still the same." Sasuke smirked a bit, "Annoying."

Sakura gasped again. Sasuke started to walk again but Sakura walked a few steps behind him hastily to stop him, "Don't leave! If you'll leave, I'll scream really loud!"

Sakura's eyes narrowed when Sasuke was gone in a flash. She felt a breeze pass behind her and a presence as well.

"Sakura," Sasuke told her, "thank you so much…"

Sakura's eyes widened at those words. It was her first time to hear words of gratitude from him for her.

And with one hit on a vulnerable spot on her spine, her vision blacked out.

"Sasuke-kun…" were her words before she fainted.

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Sakura suddenly sat up, her breathing hastened, beads of sweat forming on her face, her heartbeat pacing, and her eyes narrowed.

She ran a hand on her face and through her hair as she closed her eyes to try to calm down.

She opened her eyes, but her vision was a bit glassy – tears have formed in her eyes. With one blink, the tears rolled down her cheeks.

She quickly wiped it away and sighed deeply. She scanned her surroundings and noticed that she was wearing a hospital gown and she was in a hospital room. It was raining outside.

She stared at the ceiling and thought, _"Why did I dream of that…?"_

She fell back to her bed and closed her eyes, all the while massaging her temples, _"A detailed dream of **that** day…"_

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Sasuke was seated up on his bed with his arms crossed on his chest. He was staring emotionlessly at the rain outside his windows. He was watching how the leaves of the trees were being thrashed away by the strong gusts of storm winds.

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**--- FLASHBACK---**

Sakura found a scalpel in the tools' drying and sterilizing area. She took it and charged Sasuke. Sasuke didn't move, surprised, Sakura only made a cut on his cheek.

Within seconds, she dropped the scalpel, realizing what she has done… and that was as soon as she saw blood on the edges of the scalpel. She looked at the man before her and saw that his cheek was bleeding.

Her eyes narrowed even more and she was running out of breath.

"I have a cut on my cheek. Heal me." He took her hand and placed it on his bleeding cheek.

He then showed to her his blood on her palm, "Look at it."

"NO!" Sakura closed her eyes as she tried to wiggle away from his hold.

"Why are you so afraid of blood?" he asked that question again.

She didn't reply… she just tried to wiggle out of his firm hold on her wrist.

"ANSWER ME!"

"Why? IT'S BECAUSE IT'S YOUR BLOOD!" Sakura finally replied, opening her eyes, "YOUR BLOOD MADE ME REALIZE THAT I WAS UNFAITHFUL!"

Sasuke just stared at her.

"Before you left Konoha, you thanked me. And I wanted to return the favor back to you by hoping for your return. And after 10 years, I stopped hoping. And just when I did, YOU have to come back! And the first thing that will slap me and will remind me that you're back… is your blood! And how I hated to see blood nowadays! I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE BLOOD I SEE IS YOURS!"

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows, "You were… unfaithful?"

"I loved you and yet I gave up on it!" Sakura's tears are now forming in her eyes, "I cannot forgive myself for that!"

"Are you done?"

"W-What…?" Sakura asked.

"Are you done venting out all your frustrations on me?" he clarified.

She was silenced and he took that as a 'yes'.

"Look at your hand now." He instructed.

Her eyes hovered on her palm and she didn't panic anymore.

"I don't care if you turned yourself unfaithful." Sasuke let go of her hand and he wiped the blood off his cheek with the back of his hand, "All I know is that I won't be leaving this town anymore… Although I hate to say this, but… the truth is… you're needed here in Konoha… I hate to believe it, but… Konoha needs you."

Her glare just got stuck on the blood on her palm.

Shaking her head madly, she said, "But I am nobody… I am weak. Why would Konoha need an annoying weakling like me?"

"That's because you believe you're weak when others want you to believe you're strong because they see you strong." After saying that, Sasuke felt like he wanted to punch himself. When did he learn to say that? He just denies it, but after seeing her now, deep inside of himself, he believed she had gotten stronger.

Sakura looked straight at his Sharingan eyes. She looked away and returned her gaze at the blood on her palm.

"Are you still afraid of blood?" he asked.

She closed her eyes and sighed, wiping the blood off her hand on the robe she's wearing. She told him, "Please leave now before the authorities catch you here."

Sasuke nodded and left.

**--- END OF FLASHBACK ---**

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Sasuke ran a hand through his spiky raven hair and sighed inaudibly as he continued watching the storm outside.

"_Why did that one feel so real?"_ Sasuke thought as he placed a hand on his cheek, where Sakura had cut him in the trance, _"It was just an effect of the Mangekyou Sharingan, right? But why… why do I remember it so clearly?"_

"_YOUR BLOOD MADE ME REALIZE THAT I WAS UNFAITHFUL!"_ Sakura's words rang through his ears.

"_Before you left Konoha, you thanked me. And I wanted to return the favor back to you by hoping for your return. And after 10 years, I stopped hoping. And just when I did, YOU have to come back! And the first thing that will slap me and will remind me that you're back… is your blood! And how I hated to see blood nowadays! I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE BLOOD I SEE IS YOURS!"_ her words echoed in his mind again.

"_I loved you and yet I gave up on it! …I cannot forgive myself for that!"_ now that one made Sasuke wince for a while.

"_All I know is that I won't be leaving this town anymore."_ Now, his own words ran through his memories.

Sasuke sighed more audibly now and he stared at the floor, "Why did **I** say **that**…?"

He stood up and slid the door open. He looked at the hallways and noticed that it was empty – most probably because the hospital wasn't receiving too many patients during the stormy days.

He walked his way to the receiving desk.

"Where's Uzumaki Naruto's room." In his monotonous deep voice, it sounded more like a statement than a question.

The nurse at the receiving desk almost jumped from the sight of him.

The nurse smiled, "Mr. Uchiha Sasuke, you should go back to your room! You're not yet allowed to walk freely-"

"Where's Uzumaki Naruto's room." He said again, this time, with furrowed eyebrows. Obviously, he was getting impatient.

Later on…

Naruto was laughing hard as he was comfortably plopped on his reclined bed, watching a sitcom on the TV mounted on the wall at the corner of the room.

Then, he heard his room's door open.

"Hey- …there…" Naruto's big grin turned upside down at the sight of the Uchiha prodigy entering his room, "what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting in your own room?"

"I have a few questions to ask you." Sasuke simply said, "I hope you don't mind."

Naruto found the remote control to the TV and turned it off. He turned to his teammate, his 'brother', Uchiha Sasuke, with a serious face.

"Questions? About what?" Naruto asked.

"You mean about whom." Sasuke corrected.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Okay, about whom then?"

"About Sakura." Sasuke answered.

Naruto was a bit shocked when Sasuke said the name of their pink-haired teammate.

_TBC…_  
--- --- --- --- ---  
**Naruto is a bit enraged when Sasuke decided to ask about Sakura. This reminded him of how Sai stood up for Sakura in their encounter with Sasuke in Otogakure. In the latter, Naruto was unable to control his temper and gets a bit enraged, slapping facts to Sasuke**

_**Act 8: Wordless Thoughts**_

"_**I hope… we get him this time."**_  
**-Sai**

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**

**_A/N:_ Ooh, Sasuke asks about Sakura! Well, nothing much has been going on, neh?**

**A review won't hurt a bit! It will make me feel really happy!**

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**I'm currently experiencing a writer's block for Unfaithful, that's why updates are slow. Chapter 10 is unfinished, and I still have to weave something to bridge some pieces of thoughts together. Hmmm… Go away writer's block!**

**+Releina Artemis+**


	8. Wordless Thoughts

**_AUTHOR'S SAY ABOUT AN ERROR IN ACT 7:_ Woops! I forgot about Sakura's coma! Sorry 'bout that! Well anyway, give me a bit of time to explain that one, as I missed it unintentionally.**

**In the series, Tsunade was the only one who was able enough to heal those who have been under the Mangekyou Sharingan's 'coma' and 'hypnosis'. These people were Kakashi and Sasuke. If you don't remember, Tsunade even made a remark to Kakashi that he disappointed her and thought that he was somewhat 'stupid' for falling into such a coma by a flimsy look from Itachi's eyes.**

**So here, after Sakura got into the coma stages, Tsunade healed her student immediately, and voila! Like magic, Sakura's fine!**

**If you have any questions regarding the story, please don't be hesitant to ask. I won't bite your head off, don't worry.**

* * *

**(Previously)**

"I have a few questions to ask you." Sasuke simply said, "I hope you don't mind."

Naruto found the remote control to the TV and turned it off. He turned to his teammate, his 'brother', Uchiha Sasuke, with a serious face.

"Questions? About what?" Naruto asked.

"You mean about whom." Sasuke corrected.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Okay, about whom then?"

"About Sakura." Sasuke answered.

Naruto was a bit shocked when Sasuke said the name of their pink-haired teammate.

**(Act 8 – Wordless Thoughts)**

Naruto looked away, "After insulting her in our fight, now you ask about her?"

* * *

**--- FLASHBACK ---**

Naruto was bruised and bloody, stood up with the aid of Sai.

Sasuke lunged towards Sai with a katana but Sai used his own sword to fend off Sasuke.

"I can't believe you were my replacement." Sasuke mocked, "How could a weakling like **you** replace an undefeatable like **me**?"

"Don't feel so proud," Sai faked a smile, like he always did, "someone is stronger than I am… and that person is possibly stronger than **you** as well!"

"Sai let me take care of him!" Naruto shouted as he stood up on spaghetti legs.

Yamato and Kakashi have been defeated earlier, and now, it's all up to a badly wounded Sai and an exhausted, beat up and wounded Naruto to finish the job.

"Don't you remember me from our last encounter 8 years ago?" Sai still held up his fake smile, "I was supposed to be an underling for Orochimaru, like you. But… because of Naruto-kun's encouraging and Sakura-san's endless support and faith to me… I was able to turn my back to him and face the reality. Naruto-kun and Sakura-san are stronger than I am… and they're stronger than you!"

Sasuke's rage burned up all the more, he was finally able to push his sword in a more pressured forward motion, sweeping Sai of his feet.

"Come back to Konoha now, Sasuke!" Sai's smile turned to a thin line on his lips. His eyes glistened with fury and determination, "Sakura-san has been waiting for you to come back!"

"And who is this Sa-ku-ra-**san**?" Sasuke syllabicated, mocking each syllable of Sakura's name, "To influence you like that and to wait for me… she must be wimpy! …and wimpy idiots like you deserve to die!"

Sasuke raised his sword and was about to stab Sai in his heart but by instinct, Sai rolled away.

Naruto heard what Sasuke said, "What? Sakura-chan? Wimpy, you say? What Sai said was true, Sasuke-teme… Sakura-chan is stronger than **you**! And she has been waiting for you for 10 years to come back to us!"

"How about a deal?" Sasuke hissed arrogantly, "Once I kill you guys, I'll go back to Konoha and kill this Sakura. There, happy? So that she won't have to wait for me anymore! She sounds so… disgusting!"

"SASUKE-TEME!" Naruto shouted as he lunged towards Sasuke.

The Uchiha swung his sword and blood has tainted its blades as it pierced through flesh.

Sai was in between Naruto and Sasuke, taking the blow from the sword.

With a wobbling hand, Sai dug the blade of Sasuke's sword deeper, as the tip of the sword protruded out of his left shoulder blade. Sai choked out blood but with his other hand, he secured Sasuke's hand to hold on tightly to the sword.

Using the same hand he used earlier to dig the blade deeper into his flesh, he collected the blood dripping on the side of his mouth. He then drew a snake on the blade of the sword, his blood serving as the ink.

Gathering all of the chakra left in his system, Sai did handseals as fast as he could with only one hand. The snake he drew came to life and wrapped its body around Sai's hand secured on Sasuke's hand which was gripping the sword.

"Naruto-kun, DO IT NOW!" Sai's eyesight was blurring, and then he smiled again, "I hope… we get him this time."

**--- END OF FLASHBACK ---**

* * *

"I thought Sai would die at that moment." Naruto's fists clenched, "Sakura-chan was the one who changed him. And he believed in her abilities… and for you to mock her like that… for him, it was too unforgivable." 

Sasuke's eyes twitched at those words.

Naruto sighed, "I've seen her helpless so many times, I know her loyalty for you… if you would tell her to prove her love for you by taking her own life, I'm sure she'll take it for your own happiness. But right now, she… I know deep inside her soul, she still wants to see you but…"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, "It might sound weird, but she never wanted to see you ever again. According to her, you ruined her life. You made her hope for nothing. I loved Sakura-chan… as a friend — no, almost like my sister. And… I just wanted to prove her wrong – that hoping isn't that bad. She hoped for your return and all of her hopes were wasted. Yes, I admit, it was stupid for her to hope, but I hoped for your return as well. Just to prove to her that all her hopes were not wasted, I brought you back here… even if I did break your bones and endangered some of my and her friends."

"How long did she stop hoping?" Sasuke asked.

"Quite a long time now… Almost a year, I guess." Naruto sighed, "Look, can we talk about this some other time?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to know now."

"Want to know what?"

"I wanted to know why she still waited for me… and why she stopped waiting." Sasuke looked away… obviously uncomfortable in this conversation.

Naruto noticed this – of course, the eye of an upcoming Hokage has been chiseled to know even the mood of whom he is talking to. Tsunade taught him that one, since it was very important, most especially during Class-S conferences.

But right now, this is no Class-S conference… this was a casual conversation, and Naruto guessed it right – talking about Sakura was very much uncomfortable for Sasuke. Naruto can go on for hours talking about his pink-haired 'sister' but knowing his 'brother', he can't do that. He has to stop at some point, right?

"I think you shouldn't know much about her sorrows." Naruto looked at the stormy skies outside his windows, "It's very unnerving in your case. It's not like you – yes, let's put it that way."

"Then, what is like me?"

"Don't you hate her?" Naruto's eyes cringed a bit, his closed fists now trembling, "Even 10 years back, I know you always push her off. And now that she detached herself from you, you're the one trying to figure her out? You mocked her, you disregarded her feelings… you made her unhappy for 10 years, and now you ask me **that**?"

Sasuke was silenced.

"Don't you get the point, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto said through gnashed teeth, "Why she waited for you, why she stopped hoping, why she stopped waiting for you… all of them have one very exact reason!"

Looks like stopping at some point failed – Naruto has to continue.

Naruto then glared at Sasuke straight in the eye, "That's because she loves you, you insensitive bastard!"

The upcoming Rokudaime loosened his fists and tried to regain his composure. He reached for the remote control and turned the TV on again. Sounds of laughter from the sitcom Naruto had been watching reverberated in the room.

"She waited for you because she loves you. She believes you'll return one day and be with her. She believes that when you return… you will be more capable of love. But then again, she stopped hoping and waiting with the same reason – because she loves you. She realized that after 10 years of your absence, you'll never return to Konoha. She believed in what you believed in, instead of pursuing her own beliefs that you'll be here to be with her. After all, you never said anything about being with somebody. She then just put in mind that if she loves you, then she should just leave you alone… what makes you happy should make her happy, too. After she let go of you, she experienced temporary happiness… freedom embraced her again, joy, serenity and the come-what-may attitude was brought back to her. She was the genuine Haruno Sakura again."

Naruto flicked through the channels in TV and continued, "But then I brought up the topic of bringing you back here a month ago. The genuine Haruno Sakura had gone at that very moment… I'm sure, memories of you haunted her. She begged me to stay until my inauguration but I refused. I promised her 10 years ago that I'll bring you back here no matter what, and unless that promise is fulfilled, I won't take my seat as Rokudaime Hokage. And now that you're here… I'm starting to think my decision was wrong."

The blonde sighed and looked at the tree violently swaying near his window as it fought the strong winds that threatened to tear it apart. His cerulean orbs filled with sadness and guilt, "She's hiding behind a fake smile again. She's living the nightmare again…"

Sasuke looked at his saddened teammate.

"Sakura-chan told me you'll be staying here longer than I would." Naruto faked a grin, and amazingly, he did it pretty well, "So you should wait until I officially become the Hokage next week. I'll issue an order to make you a freeman… I'll allow you to leave Konoha and pursue your vengeance, or whatever is that you're pursuing… I won't label you as a missing-nin, and if you want, I can even remove your citizenship from Konoha, and just make you… just make you somebody we don't know… if it will make you happy, I bet Sakura will be back to normal again if you go… she'll need not worry about you anymore! And you'll be able to accomplish your goals! And I don't need to drag you here again! See? Everybody happy, neh?"

Then, Naruto's grin turned upside down, "I'm serious about that. So I want you to think about it thoroughly, so I can prepare your papers."

With that said and done, Sasuke stood up and left.

Naruto sighed audibly and went back to the channel of his favorite sitcom. His face stoic, but his eyes glistened with worry. He bit his lower lip and looked at his injuries, _"All these and I put the lives of Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou and Sai at risk… and this is what I can think of to make everyone happy?"_

He ruffled his hair and plopped down on his bed, hugging one pillow tightly with one arm.

"_I guess I'm a bastard too. I really am a dobe."_ Naruto's thoughts concluded.

_TBC…_  
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**Sakura seems like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed after seeing that Sai was in her room. Sai had begun annoying her again. But then again, their conversation lands into much more intense topics.**

_**Act 9: Cracks on the Porcelain Mask**_

"… _**I'm sure Naruto will do something about this matter soon enough."**_  
**-Haruno Sakura**

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**_A/N:_ Yes, for those fellas who haven't read the part in the manga wherein there was a Sasuke and Sai encounter, well, I'm not making that up, just so you know.**

**Anyway… I'M SO SORRY FOR THE MEGA LATE UPDATE!!! Gomenasai! T.T Well, I'm still trying to bat off the writer's block I have for Unfaithful… And hopefully, it's gradually wearing off.**

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**I love to hear from you guys. :D REVIEW!!!**

**+Releina Artemis+**


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